Today over 150 organizations sent the letter below to President Obama expressing opposition to DHS' reported plans to conduct nationwide raids to deport Central American refugees who have been given a final order of deportation. The letter urges the President to stop the planned raids. The vast majority of the final deportation orders were given in absentia. (Where a person fails to show up they automatically get ordered deported)

About 90% of the refugees have valid claims evidenced by the fact that they have been released from detention and allowed to present their case to an immigration judge. The problem stems from DHS failing to give them proper notice of their hearings, the language barriers have gone largely unaddressed, a majority of the refugee population speaks a language other than Spanish. This is not a population who merely decided not to show up to court, these are people who wanted to go to court, this was their chance to win their case and not be returned to the violence and persecution they are fleeing, but they were not notified. Their absence was a direct result of DHS denying them access to lawyers who could have explained their rights and obligations.